As independent India matures and celebrates its 69th Independence Day, a hint of faux nationalism grips the nation. This is the perfect occasion to introspect the relevance of nationalism, particularly amongst the youngsters associated with the country.
Some pertinent questions that needs to be answered are - have we passionately nurtured our Independence as we fiercely fought for it? Are we unnecessarily sensitive about criticism related to nationalism? Is the hyper-sensitivity any indication to our patriotism?
The free flowing, jingoistic opinions on social media such as Twitter and Facebook has given an altogether twisted angle to nationalism. Common people with an access to social media, have turned into referees. Thanks to the online frenzy, several trivial issues turn into a national debate while issues that are of supreme concern get reduced to a juicy subject of tea-time discussion.
Shashi Tharoor's widely discussed debate at the Oxford Union, demanding reparation from the British government for the oppressions made during the British colonialism was a prominent issue that brought nationalism alive amongst Indians. Dr Tharoor touched the raw chord by reminding them of the gory past during the British rule when India witnessed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the dreaded Bengal famine. The online frenzy over reparation, led to a simple question - have we valued the hard earned independence in all these years?
The controversy over India's national anthem was yet another debate that brought to fore faux patriotism prevalent in Indians. Kalyan Singh, the governor of Rajasthan, pulled an old chestnut by stating that the Indian National Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' penned by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore had praised the British rulers. The debate suggested that 'adhinayak jai hai' literally translated to “hail the leader” and the lines were written to praise the British rulers. Once again, the twitter discussion got diverted towards the issue of national pride. A demand was made to replace the words with “mangaldayak”, which meant 'welfare giver'. Dubious evidences were the sole basis of the entire debate which created a frenzy over Twitter that got people talking about the suggested 'sycophancy' in Tagore's rendition. People missed no chance to demand amendment in the national anthem.
Spirit of nationalism gripped everyone when Yakub Memon, only terrorist caught in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast, was hanged recently, in Nagpur. Armchair activists and commentators took to twitter to give their opinion on a convict, who according to the judgement by Supreme Court of India was guilty. The frenzy of tweets by Salman Khan (which was ultimately deleted owing to public outrage), religious and political leaders, human right activists, Memon's family and Congress leaders created an environment which automatically portrayed India as the anti-Muslim nation. Everyone forgot that the bomb blast and subsequent punishment to a convict was an issue of terrorism and not religion.
Independence day is the right time to ponder over what is the definition of nationalism in the changed perspective for new India? It's time that we open up to issues that needs to be addressed on a priority basis than simply confusing vulnerable people over subjects that are immaterial for the future prospects of the nation, in the name of religion, caste and regressive rituals.
